‘Reno 911!’ takes a shot at the big screen

“Reno 911!,� the freewheeling Comedy Central parody of “Cops,� is the latest TV series to come to the big screen.

“Reno 911!: Miami� finds the totally clueless members of the Reno Sheriff’s Department -- they make the bumblers from the old “Police Academy� movies look like Mensa members -- patrolling the mean streets of the Florida metropolis after a bioterrorist attack on a police convention.

“Miami,� which opens Friday, was written by stars Robert Ben Garant, who plays Deputy Travis Junior; Thomas Lennon, the short-shorts-wearing Lt. Jim Dangle; and Kerri Kenney-Silver, who plays the overly medicated Deputy Trudy Wiegel. (Garant and Lennon also wrote the box office hits “The Pacifier� and the current “Night at the Museum.�)

Garant also directed this exercise in silliness and bad taste. “Directing is real hard,� he says. “Writing -- it is just me and my dog and I am sitting there at my computer. I really enjoy that. I think if I didn’t direct, though, I would never get out of the house or talk to anybody.�

The film was shot in just 20 days in both Los Angeles and Miami. As with the series, which premiered in 2003, there was no set script for it.

“We have an outline for each sketch,� Garant says. “We never write any dialogue, and usually we don’t rehearse. We hire people who we know are going to be funny. We pitch them the joke and just let them go.�

Garant directed the film in the same manner he does episodes of the series.

“We had the exact same crew and almost the same schedule,� he explains. “We shoot eight to 12 pieces a day. We do two takes of each scene.�

Because of the fast shooting schedule, the actors have to be on their toes.

“They show up [on set], we shove them into makeup and we start shooting. We do these long takes, so even if an actor has prepared some jokes for the scene, they are out of their jokes in the first five minutes. We keep shooting for another 10 minutes, so you get great, weird stuff from people.�